The Globe and Mail

1. Donald Fehr

The executive director of the NHLPA is ranked No. 1 on the Globe and Mail’s Top 50 Power List for 2012, because of the significance accorded negotiations on a new collective agreement and because his reputation from 23 years leading the Major League Baseball Players Association suggests NHL commissioner Gary Bettman might not want to simply assume anymore that he is the brightest guy in the room.

(NHLPA)

2. Gary Bettman

The NHL commissioner would presumably improve hockey’s image by outlawing dangerous head shots. His challenge is to convince owners, primarily those of U.S. franchises who connect ticket sales with violence, to take sterner action. On the labour front, Bettman goes into labour negotiations with owners lined up behind him. There are some blots on his résumé – the Phoenix Coyotes and Atlanta Thrashers, for two – but the owners aren’t complaining publicly.

(Darren Calabrese for The Globe and Mail)

3. Concussion experts. (Charles Tator, Paul Echlin, Robert Cantu, Karen Johnston, Brian Benson, Michael Cusimano, Chris Nowinski, et al.)

Concussion doctors have spurred the campaign to bring awareness of the traumatic effects of head injuries to athletes and the public. Massachusetts-based Cantu has published 28 books on neurology and sports medicine and, since 1986, has had a grade-rank system for concussions. Echlin launched an online library of concussion cases in 2011. Johnson, Tator and Cusimano, among Canada’s top neurosurgeons, speak out regularly. Calgary-based Benson is a researcher and educator on concussions in the winter sport hotbed. Nowinski (pictured) isn’t a doctor but the former World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler works with Boston University to persuade athletes to donate brains to science.

(John Ohle Photography)

4. Ken Dryden

Respected as hockey’s man of thought, he is positioning himself as an independent authority in the player safety discussion. The Hall of Fame goaltender and former member of Parliament has written eloquent and convincing essays – published by The Globe and Mail, La Presse and grantland.com – calling for action on head shots in hockey. In the first, he set the tone by asking, “How could we be so stupid?”

(Dave Chan for The Globe and Mail)

5. Marcel Aubut

It’s an Olympics year. The president of the Canadian Olympic Committee is aiming to generate big-time attention and sponsorship for amateur athletes. Canadians had a record 14 Winter Olympics wins at the 2010 Vancouver Games, including the first gold at home. For the Olympics in London this summer, the COC is targeting 24 medals and 12th position overall. The federally-supported Own the Podium plan received a $5-million boost from the COC last fall, bringing the COC contribution to $25-million for these Games.

(The Canadian Press)

6. Stacey Allaster

As chairman and chief executive officer of the Women’s Tennis Association, the native of Welland, Ont., has fought for equal prize money for women and men at tournaments involving WTA and men’s ATP players. Her social networking initiatives have broadened the fan base of women’s tennis. She’s pursuing new corporate opportunities after the loss of the WTA’s biggest sponsor, Sony Ericsson.

(Sony Ericsson WTA Tour photo)

7. Brendan Shanahan

NHL’s senior vice-president of hockey operations and player safety, Shanahan got a lot of attention in the preseason with a series of suspensions for head hits. His disciplinary actions showed slippage during the regular season as an outcry from many general managers may have eased the iron fist. Still, anybody trying to change a culture is going to grate old-time thinking and meet with resistance. The truest test comes in April, as the playoffs begin.

(The Associated Press)

8. Phil King/George Cope (pictured)

Appointed president of CTV programming and sports in April of 2011, King is responsible for leading Bell Media’s strategy for conventional television and the company’s sports outlets – TSN (English) and RDS (French). King is the company’s senior adviser to the joint venture for the 2012 Olympics, an event that will be delivered digitally to consumers across multiple platforms as sports broadcasting continues to evolve. Cope is president and CEO of Bell Canada and its parent BCE Inc. To him, forming a partnership with rival Rogers on the $1-billion-plus buyout of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s share of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment was something “none of us thought possible.” Sleeping with the enemy enabled TSN and Rogers sports outlets to lock up programming. Up next on the agenda: CFL and NHL rights.

(Reuters)

9. Keith Pelley (pictured)/Nadir Mohamed

As president of Rogers Media and formerly the head of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics consortium, Pelley is attempting to revitalize Sportsnet, the No. 2 sports cable network in Canada, with a vast rebranding exercise. Pelley reports to Mohamed, who is CEO and president of Rogers Communications Inc. Already owner of baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays and now partners in MLSE with Bell, Rogers has a big say in the operations of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, soccer’s Toronto FC and the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies.

(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

10. Pierre-Karl Peladeau

The president and CEO of Quebecor Inc., Quebecor Media Inc. and Sun Media Corp. is actively campaigning for the return of an NHL hockey team to Quebec City. He has orchestrated an agreement between Quebecor Inc. and the city for the construction of a new multipurpose arena, an enticement for the financially floundering Phoenix Coyotes. Sun Media newspapers have reinvested in coverage of sports.

(Graham Hughes for The Globe and Mail)

11. Murray Edwards

The Regina-born Calgary Flames co-owner and chairman is a member of the NHL’s all-powerful executive committee. One of his other companies, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, operates several Canadian ski resorts: Fernie, Kimberley and Kicking Horse in British Columbia, Nakiska in Alberta, and Stoneham Mountain Resort and Mont-Sainte-Anne in Quebec.

(The Globe and Mail)

12. Sidney Crosby

The injured Pittsburgh Penguins star’s concussion status, updates and views on the league are front page news no matter when they come. He’s done the right thing by sitting out until symptoms are gone. He was positioned, but has proven hesitant, to educate parents and players about the effects of and recovery from head hits and concussion. His agent, Pat Brisson (who made the 2011 list, with partner J.P. Barry), has been similarly reserved.

(Associated Press)

13. Christiane Ayotte

She’s been the chief of the internationally accredited (World Anti-Doping Agency-certified) drug detection lab in Laval, Que., since 1991. Ayotte’s been a member of the International Association of Athletics Federations doping commission since 1995 and was voted head of the International Olympic Committee’s accredited labs 1995-96. Ayotte’s lab processes about 18,000 urine samples a year, including all those for professional tennis, major-league baseball and the NFL. She’s had a hand in unveiling some of the designer cheat drugs such as THG (tetrahydrogestrinone, also known as the Clear).

(The Canadian Press)

14. Geoff Molson

The Montreal Canadiens’ owner, president and CEO has spoken out on issues such as safety in hockey. However, the Habs are dwelling near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and the hiring of Randy Cunneyworth as interim head coach sparked a language debate in Quebec. Habs fans are braying for wins – and a francophone voice behind the bench.

(The Globe and Mail)

15. Francesco Aquilini

He owns and operates the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena with right-hand man and chief operating officer Victor de Bonis and innovative general manager Mike Gillis. The organization’s cutting edge marketing campaigns – a bottle of Canucks water, anyone? – are forming a template for other pro franchises. Will Aquilini pursue a NBA franchise for Vancouver? He’s managing director of Vancouver-based Aquilini Investment Group, a development company worth about $5-billion with real estate holdings that include hotels, office towers, a movie set, berry farms and restaurant franchises.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

16. David Braley

Conservative senator owns the Toronto Argonauts and Grey Cup champion B.C. Lions in Vancouver. With the next Grey Cup – the 100th – in Toronto, he’s rebuilding the Argonauts ark. The Argos have recently signed a new CEO in former COC boss Chris Rudge, a head coach in Scott Milanovich and new offensive and defensive co-ordinators. They’ve also traded for veteran Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray, a two-time Grey Cup winner.

(Sheryl Nadler)

17. Mark Cohon

Entering his sixth season as CFL commissioner, Cohon has built attendance and sponsorship revenue. There’s a reconstructed stadium in Vancouver, a new stadium in Winnipeg and another coming in Hamilton. With TV ratings holding, the league should be well-positioned to negotiate a broadcast deal and its current contract with TSN expires this year. However, while the league’s popularity is intact in the West, the cloud still hovers over Southwestern Ontario where the Argos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats struggle to attract fans. The Argos’ lease at Rogers Centre expires this season – where will they play?

(The Canadian Press)

18. B2ten Group

Founded in 2005 by moguls Olympic skier Jenn Heil, coach Dominick Gauthier and strategist JD Miller, the privately funded charitable group puts athletes and their needs together with donors to deliver services, programming, equipment and therapy. The roll call of B2ten athletes heading to the 2012 Olympics includes several potential medalists: shot putter Dylan Armstrong, diver Alexandre Despatie, cyclist Clara Hughes, synchro swimmer Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon, kayaker Adam van Koeverden and swimmers Brent Hayden and Annamay Pierse.

(The Canadian Press)

19. Clara Hughes

The six-time Olympic medalist – four as a speed skater and two as a cyclist – and Olympic flag bearer in 2010 is also a spokesperson for depression and mental health for sponsor Bell. Hughes, who will be almost 40 when she cycles at London, is a highly sought speaker and her personal blogs are inspirational. A philanthropist, she gave $10,000 of her 2010 winnings to the Take a Hike alternative education program in East Vancouver. Active in Right to Play, last summer she went with kayaker Adam van Koeverden to Mali on a mission.

(Reuters)

20. Scott Simmons

The executive director of Golf Canada, the rebranded name of the Royal Canadian Golf Association, leads an organization in change. Along with RBC Canadian Open tournament director Bill Paul and sponsor Royal Bank of Canada, he’s played a key role in restoring the national championship’s image. He’s also working to rebuild the sport at the ground level in Canada, by encouraging youngsters through school programs to take up and stay in the game.

(The Canadian Press)

21. Jeremy Jacobs (pictured)/Bill Daly

The powers behind Bettman’s throne in the NHL will be front and centre with a collective agreement to be renegotiated. Daly is deputy commissioner, chief legal officer and de facto media liaison. Jacobs, owner of the Boston Bruins, is chairman of the NHL board of governors.

(Associated Press)

22. Michael Downey

The president and CEO of Tennis Canada since 2004, he’s overseeing a campaign to increase participation. In 2011, he boldly combined the Rogers Cup women’s and men’s tournaments into the same week in different cities, Toronto and Montreal. In 2007, he pushed Tennis Canada directors to invest millions in a high-performance centre and development program that has produced breakthrough star Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., who is a threat to be an Olympic medal winner in 2012.

(Tennis Canada)

23. Paul Beeston/ Alex Anthopoulos

The Toronto Blue Jays bosses – Beeston is president and CEO, Anthopoulos is general manager – didn’t empty owner Rogers’ piggybank for a big bat in the off-season. Fans’ patience is limited. The internal fight for dollars may be fierce now that Rogers is also funding professional hockey, basketball and soccer teams. Anthopoulos is doing what he can with a limited budget. He’s strengthened pitching, but he wasn’t in the spending game for Japanese pitching ace Yu Darvish and wouldn’t tender a long contract offer to Prince Fielder.

(Reuters)

24. Hayley Wickenheiser

The highly visible four-time Olympic hockey medalist is co-ordinating athletes and coach mentors from Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States as part of an International Ice Hockey Federation program that aims to improve women’s hockey teams before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The sport faces exclusion from the Olympics program if it’s not more competitive internationally. Wickenheiser also works with a handful of charities.

(The Canadian Press)

25. Daryl Katz

The Edmonton Oilers’ owner and pharmaceutical mogul continues to work on a deal he’s constructed with the City of Edmonton for a $450-million arena in the downtown core. How it’s funded is being closely watched by the Calgary Flames’ owners.

(Reuters)

26. Anne Merklinger

Own the Podium CEO; got the post after Alex Baumann left. Merklinger is a former curler of national status and past head of paddling when it sent finalists to 11 Olympic events in 2004. She’s charged with overseeing the effort to produce more World Cup and world championship medals and turn them into Olympic medals in London (Ken Read directs the winter program for OTP). It’s a big ask, as Canada tries to place 12th over all in medals. Under Baumann, who left for New Zealand, Canada won a record 14 golds at Vancouver in 2010.

27. Mark Tewksbury

Canada’s chef de mission at London. Once a thorn in IOC’s side on reforming the hide-bound body, he’s now popular with athletes, a highly sought international speaker and author. The openly gay Tewksbury has spoken at the United Nations on discrimination, and has been inducted into a Human Rights Hall of Fame. He’s spoken to Goldman Sachs employees in Hong Kong, to Hewlett Packard employees in Budapest and played host for the Dalai Lama’s visit to Ottawa.

(Reuters)

28. Jeff Orridge

Does the CBC have a future in sports broadcasting? Orridge’s job, as head of the public broadcaster’s sports division, is trying to identify a place in the multichannel universe. Facing the possible loss of NHL rights and, with them, its Hockey Night in Canada franchise, outbid on the 2010 and 2012 Olympics and no longer broadcasting CFL, major-league baseball or curling, CBC is becoming non-essential for sports viewers.

(CBC)

29. Don Cherry

Personifies old-school standards as the star of Hockey Night in Canada’s Coach’s Corner. Though ratings fall precipitously between periods, he retains a fiercely loyal following. As arguably one of the two most recognized personalities with the CBC, a network drenched in political correctness, Cherry had to apologize in the face of legal action for slandering several former enforcers. To some, he represents what has gone wrong with the NHL game; to others, he represents all that is right with the sport.

(Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail)

30. Jim Little

The chief brand and communications officer at Royal Bank of Canada is the driving force behind the bank’s heavy involvement in golf and other sports. Little’s taken the bank into all levels from grassroots to the elite. RBC sponsors the Canadian Open and revived the national championship. It will add title sponsorship of another PGA Tour event this year, the RBC Heritage Classic. Sponsor of individual players, including world No. 1 Luke Donald and veteran Jim Furyk. Also sponsors amateur golf, including the national amateur team, and the PGA of America.

(Mike Cassese)

31. Jarome Iginla

Hockey is to Alberta as Iginla is to hockey ... so would he drop his no-movement clause to allow the Flames to rejuvenate an aged roster with a trade this month? Far more likely, Iginla remains in Calgary, where he lives with his family and is intertwined with the community, in part through involvement in several charities including the Diabetes Research Foundation and KidsSport. Iginla leverages his popularity for good cause, for example visiting Canadian troops in Afghanistan last May with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

(Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

32. Brian Burke

As general manager of the NHL’s top franchise, Burke has the Leafs positioned to make the playoffs. They’re young, they’ve done it without a pile of high draft choices, and it looks as if someone knows what he’s doing in Toronto for the first time since Cliff Fletcher two decades ago.

(The Canadian Press)

33. Francois Dumontier

President and CEO of Octane Motorsports Events, promoter of Formula 1 and Nascar motor racing in Canada. The Canadian Grand Prix (June 8, 9, 10, 2012 in Montreal) may be the most internationally prominent annual sporting event in Canada. Weekend crowds total 300,000, but it was stopped by F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone in 2009 when organizers of the event -- which generated $80-million a year -- didn’t agree to Ecclestone’s licensing fee of $175-million over five years. A replacement race in Turkey was a bust and Ecclestone asked Dumontier if the Montreal GP could be revived.

34. Joey Saputo (pictured)/Jeff Mallett

Saputo, the president of soccer’s Montreal Impact, is the architect of the Impact’s transition from NASL into Major League Soccer’s 19th team (debut season is 2012). Saputo’s survived a bad final season in the NASL, a fan protest, a coaching resignation and the retirement of his first draft pick, Brian Ching (who has since relented). Impact will play its first five games in cavernous Olympic Stadium while Saputo Stadium is being expanded from 13,000 to 20,000 seats. Mallett, as owner, brought the Vancouver Whitecaps into the MSL with predictable results. Along with Toronto’s team, the clubs are positioned to grow soccer in this country as a spectator sport.

(The Canadian Press)

35. Mark Chipman

Managing partner of the Winnipeg Jets and chair of True North Sports and Entertainment in partnership with David Thomson, Chipman has been the public face of the company in a hockey-hungry town since relocating the Atlanta Thrashers in May. Where else do fans shout out the company's name during the national anthem as they do at the Jets’ MTS Centre?

(The Canadian Press)

36. Blaine Hoshizaki

At the University of Ottawa, this professor and his team at the Neurotrauma Impact Science Lab are performing crash-test analyses on football and hockey helmets, to establish the relationship to concussions.

(Dave Chan for The Globe and Mail)

37. Nick Eaves

CEO of Woodbine Entertainment Group, runs the most successful racetrack in North America, site of the Queen’s Place and winner of the Top Choice Platinum Award for top entertainment complex. Woodbine, as with the industry, is challenged to counter competition from online wagering, and declining betting patterns.

(Woodbine Entertainment Group)

38. Brian Day (pictured)/Jack Taunton/Alex McKechnie

Leading-edge sports-medicine specialists. Dr. Day pioneered teaching of arthroscopic surgical techniques at the University of British Columbia. Taunton was chief medical officer of the Vancouver 2010 Games. McKechnie, head of sports science for the Raptors after eight years with the Los Angeles Lakers, developed baseline fitness tests and the Core-X conditioning system for body flexibility – important for injury prevention because of the concentrated schedule and abbreviated training camp..

(John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail)

39. Anthony Calvillo

The most prolific quarterback is a survivor as an athlete and a cancer patient. Synonymous with community works for cancer causes, notably with Cedars Cancer Institute (Alexia and Anthony Calvillo Cedars Family Room at the hematology-oncology in-patient ward at Royal Victoria Hospital), and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Montreal.

(The Canadian Press)

40. Bob Nicholson

President and CEO of Hockey Canada, an organization that’s moved into new headquarters at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, and runs the cash generating world juniors tournament among others. He is lobbying the NHL to raise the draft age by a year (the first 10 picks may be exempt) during its next round of collective bargaining negotiations. He says young players need more time to mature and learn skills.

(Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

41. David Branch

Commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League and president of the Canadian Hockey League. Branch is a strict disciplinarian, and he has led efforts to ban headshots in part by handing out some of the most severe suspensions in the history of organized hockey. Branch, as with all major junion hockey, may be under pressure to react to Hockey USA’s ruling this summer on fighting at all levels below pro.

(The Canadian Press)

42. Bryan Colangelo

The president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors is overseeing a fourth consecutive season of non-playoff basketball and further rebuilding. Success of the Raptors is key to building popularity for a winter professional sport that lags hockey in the winter by a country mile in this country.

(The Canadian Press)

43. Georges St-Pierre

UFC’s Canadian face and the welterweight champion. He’s a globally popular and charismatic Quebec athlete, and an advocate of anti-bullying campaigns. In 2008, 2009, and 2010 he was named the Canadian Athlete of the Year by Rogers Sportsnet. Before turning pro as a mixed-martial artist, St-Pierre worked as a bouncer the Montreal night club on the South Shore, and as a garbageman for six months to pay for his school fees.

(The Canadian Press)

44. Doug Mitchell

Former CFL commissioner and presently national co-chair of the law firm, Borden Ladner Gervais, he is the force behind the annual BLG awards presented to Canadian university athletes, and as co-owner of the Stampeders, a member of the CFL board of governors. He’s a benefactor of sports facilities at his alma mater, UBC, and a quiet yet strong voice in Canadian inter-university sport.

(The Canadian Press)

45. Mary Spencer

The three-time world champion is a favourite for the gold medal as women’s boxing debuts in the Olympics program in London. An Aboriginal role model, Spencer is a frequent speaker at community events.

(Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail)

46. Senator Nancy Greene-Raine

Greene won gold and silver medals at the Grenoble 1968 Winter Games, served as Canada's Ambassador for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Also director of skiing at Sun Peaks Resort north of Kamloops, b.C., she is a strong voice in the effort to encourage physical activity in the country, especially as a member of Parliament’s standing committee on Aboriginal Peoples.

(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

47. Ken Shields

At least, he’s trying. About 1,000 Canadians a year accept National Collegiate Athletic Association scholarships in the U.S., and Shields has pitched a scholarship system to Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) to keep more of them home. He says Canada needs the co-operation of various athlete development bodies - including national sport organizations and federally financed Sport Canada and Own the Podium - to come up with a comprehensive program.

48. Steve Nash

Still going strong in the last year of his contract with the Phoenix Suns, Canada’s ultimate basketball player co-owns the Vancouver Whitecaps of the Major Soccer League and is involved in a number of charitable causes through his foundation.

(Associated Press)

49. Larry Tanenbaum

While his stock increased to 25 per cent from 20, his power has decreased at MLSE as a minority owner without leverage. Tanenbaum was the key to the deal that brought together communications rivals Rogers and Bell as 50-50 purchasers of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan ownership.

(Reuters)

50. Theo Fleury

May have revolutionized the sports book market in Canada with his tell-all autobiography, Playing with Fire. He’s leveraged the publicity into a career as a speaker, willing to speak to social causes, especially abuse of children.

(The Canadian Press)